Suryakant Jena

Sundergarh: In a strange twist to the controversial suspension of a block education officer (BEO) in the district following allegations of eating chicken curry in mid day meal (MDM) at Tilaemala Primary School in Bonai, the school headmaster in-charge on Sunday dismissed the allegations and termed them as false.

Headmaster-in-charge of the primary school, Triupti Chandan Kisan claimed that in contrast to allegations, BEO Binay Prakash Soy had taken vegetarian food in the MDM on that day.

"Neither the BEO nor any other teacher had chicken in their lunch that day. It was a conspiracy to frame the BEO. It was not legitimate on part of the government to suspend him without finding the actual fact by probing the matter," the headmaster-in-charge said. He further alleged that the allegations have also tarnished the image of the school.

Hirabati Sahu, a lady teacher of the school, also backed the statement of the headmaster-in-charge and said fried bitter gourd and salad was served to the BEO on that day.

"After serving food to the children, we served food to the BEO and he preferred to sit with the students. I had offered fried bitter-gourd, mashed brinjal and salad to the BEO which I had brought from home. We never cook chicken in our school and besides it was Thursday when the incident was reported, so there is no question of preparation of chicken curry. We believe that the BEO has been implicated falsely," the lady teacher said.

The BEO who had also clarified on Saturday that he did not take chicken in the mid day meal, today said that he is contemplating to move court against his suspension over wrong charges.

Ruing over the fact that he was suspended without show cause notice, the BEO said that he will seek the district collector's attention and if necessary he will take legal recourse.

Notably, on October 3, during a visit to Tilaemala Primary School for inspection, Soy was caught in a video eating mid day meal with students. A video of the incident which went viral on social media showed him purportedly taking chicken curry in lunch while the children who were seating beside him were only served dal and rice.

After the matter came to light, Sundergarh collector Nikhil Pawan Kalyan had placed the BEO under suspension.

scrollToTop